Handcuff Warehouse Blog

Ray’s Sport Shop in North Plainfield, NJ recently went out of business and Handcuff Warehouse bought all of their remaining handcuff stock. We got a bunch of S&W, Peerless, and Hiatt stuff, but the real treasure was a number of old American Handcuff Company items. American went out of business years ago (bought by ASP in 2003). We got some N200 oversized handcuffs, Model L-300 auto restraints, standard Model N-105, L-100 leg irons, 2 pairs of N-400 swivel hinged handcuffs, and a bunch of waist chains. We will be selling them on eBay over the next couple months. Here is a link to a current auction: American N200 Oversized Handcuffs.

Ray’s Sport Shop opened in 1947 and Ray is now 92 years old. He tried to sell the company since the 1990s, but couldn’t find a buyer for the whole business that included an extensive store with police equipment, gun range, gun shop, and hunting & fishing gear. A car dealer next door bought the property and will tear down the buildings to expand their lot. Ray’s was a competitor of ours, but I was sorry they closed after I heard the compelling story of their business.

Hiatt-Thompson is changing their name to Thompson Handcuffs and Restraints to reflect their independent status. Their new logo will include the same red triangle with the H and T reversed.

Hiatt-Thompson Corporation was previously the exclusive distributor for English company Hiatt Handcuffs in North America. Hiatt was purchased by Armor Holdings, which was then purchased by BAE Systems. BAE closed the factory in England and discontinued the Hiatt name. They are now making the Hiatt handcuffs in New Hampshire under the Safariland name.

Thompson Handcuffs and Restraints is no longer affiliated with BAE and now makes their own line of popular colored handcuffs and leg irons as well as a complete line of handcuffs that are very similiar to the Hiatt line. They also make the Blue Box and magnetic training keys. The owners, Chuck and Dawn Thompson, are very entrepreneurial and are always coming up with something new. Look for them to come out with more innovative products soon.

The complete line of Thompson Handcuffs and Restraints is available at Handcuff Warehouse.

A lovely pair of Peerless Model 700 handcuffs modeled by Desperate Housewives.

Available at Handcuff Warehouse: Peerless Model 700 Handcuffs

New from ASP: Double pawl high security chain handcuffs that use a special key. “The two pawl lock set provides increased security through a tamperproof design. A stainless steel divider plate makes it impossible to pick the lock of an ASP cuff that incorporates this lock set.” The special 2 pawl double bit key will unlock all standard keys will not unlock the two pawl lock set. Can be identified by the blue double locks. Includes 1 two pawl key.

Yuil handcuffs from Korea use an almost identical key, but it is bigger and won’t fit in the ASP key hole.

Available at Handcuff Warehouse: ASP Security Chain Handcuffs

Hiatt-Thompson Model 2222 non-NIJ approved handcuffs. Double locking, 2 keys included. They are a little thinner than most standard handcuffs and value priced for security work or when you might not get your cuffs back. Constructed of carbon steel with shiny nickel finish.

Available at Handcuff Warehouse: Hiatt-Thompson Model 2222 Handcuffs

We have gotten a lot of requests for training leg irons recently. There were none on the market, so we made our own.

Training leg irons have permanently attached low profile steel dials which open the cuffs quickly for efficient training. The face of the dial provides an illustration indicating the direction to turn to open the cuff. Additionally, the double lock feature of the cuffs is fully functional.

Available at Handcuff Warehouse: Chicago Model 2200T Training Leg Irons

New from ASP: hinged stainless steel handcuffs with three part pawl for higher security. The pawl is the part that engages the teeth of the swinging bow of the handcuff. Making it with 3 independently operating sections makes the handcuffs more resistant to shimming. ASP calls them European style. Hiatt (now Safariland) has been using this feature for years and triple pawls are required by some European agencies. Green double locks differentiate these from standard ASP handcuffs. They use standard keys and operate just like other ASP handcuffs.

Available at Handcuff Warehouse: ASP Triple Pawl Hinged Handcuffs